We are pleased to announce that on April 18th Inter Agency Agreement (IAA) has been signed by all parties between California Department of Technology (CDT) and the City of Sacramento! The IAA will extend CDT’s Fiber Ring Service (FRS) by utilizing the City of Sacramento’s current fiber network to increase connectivity and reduce costs. This agreement will replace leased, vendor provided, critical network FRS circuits with city fiber, saving CDT approximately $20,000 per month. Although CDT was required to initially spend approximately $117,000 to build out seven sites, the cost will be recouped in less than 6 months once the CDT vendor fiber contracts are terminated. In return, CDT will become the Internet Service Provider (ISP) for the City of Sacramento, allowing the city to eliminate costly vendor-provided ISP services. This agreement is an example of two government organizations working together to provide cost savings to California.

“This is great example of leveraging a City asset that is not being fully leveraged, in return for a significant benefit to both City and State,” stated Maria MacGunigal, Chief Information Officer at the City of Sacramento.

“Our partnership with the City of Sacramento demonstrates government’s commitment to working together for the benefit of taxpayers,” said Chris Cruz, Chief Deputy Director of Operations for CDT. “This partnership enables the state to provide government services efficiently, effectively and securely and we’re thankful for the cooperative approach the City has shared in this endeavor.”

This will allow CDT the ability to connect to the Corporation for Education Network Initiatives in California (CENIC), California Research Network (CalREN). There will also be new opportunities for CDT to become a service provider to local government in the region who have connections to the city fiber, including: Sacramento County, Sacramento Regional Transit, CSU Sacramento, Los Rios Community Colleges, city libraries, and the Sacramento City Unified School District. Existing CDT customers will also use the new fiber connections, including: Department of Justice, California Environmental Protection Agency, Governor’s Office, Agricultural Labor Relations Board, Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability, Department of Social Services, and CDT’s headquarters located in downtown. The agreement can be amended to allow for other State organizations to connect to CDT using city fiber.

The next phase of this effort will be the commencement of construction planning meetings between CDT’s Statewide Telecommunications and Network Division (STND) and the City of Sacramento. It is expected that all sites will be connected and functional by summer 2016.